The myth of collective consciousness

“There are millions of people who came out of the 1960s with the idea that ‘self’ was a terrible entity, and only by existing all together, with everyone, in a single state of consciousness, could the world be saved. They bought a new fairy tale to replace an old one. They couldn’t find another answer to materialism.” (The Underground, Jon Rappoport)

In past articles, I’ve extensively covered the collective/group myth on several levels. But what about the so-called spiritual level?

What about the influential idea that, in an advanced state, humans would enter an ultimate collective cosmic unity?

Let’s start this way: somehow, you’re given access to the greatest store anywhere in the universe. Your credit card has no limit.

You walk through the gigantic space. You see cars and clothes and shoes and food and cell phones and toys and books and DVDs and CDs and TV sets and private jets and ships and pictures of mansions and islands for sale and pets and more, much more.

You love it.

You spend a long, long time browsing and buying and chatting with the friendly staff, and you know that, yes, this is the store you’ve always to shop in. This is the place.

And finally, when you’ve made all your purchases, and you’re on your way out, you discover that all the doors are locked. You can’t leave.

At that moment, the store isn’t your favorite place anymore.

Something is wrong. Very wrong.

So here’s the comparison; yes, any state of consciousness that can be conceived or imagined or proposed is possible, but adding the kicker that it’s final and nobody exits from it is preposterous.

Individuals can have the experience of merging with each other—that collective experience. The “I” can decide to become “We.” Sure. Why not?

But…

Having done that, you can decide at some point that it’s time to leave. Then, if you couldn’t leave, you’d change your mind about the whole set-up.

Some people would say that once you entered collective cosmic consciousness, you’d never want to leave, but that’s just their opinion.

In other words, every possible state of consciousness is voluntary, effected in freedom. Ditto for exiting it.

Which means there is nothing final about collective consciousness or unity. It isn’t the final attainment. It’s another form of perception.

You can choose a role in the play of consciousness, and you can also retire from the cast and go on to other roles. And wherever you go, whatever you do, you’re you.

Being you isn’t limiting in the slightest, unless you make it so.

If you have been severely hamstringing you, the automatic solution isn’t suddenly “merging with everyone and everything else.” That might be a good and interesting exercise, to pull you out of a doldrum and a state of inertia, but it isn’t The Answer. There are lots of ways you can launch out of inertia.

Someone says, “Let’s all be One.”

You say, “Sounds exciting. I’m in.”

And then you do it.

“Wow,” you say, “this is fantastic. I’m you and you’re me and we’re all together—here comes a bunch more people to join in.”

You stay there in Oneness for a while. You have a great time…and then you say, “See you later, guys, it’s been fun.”

The author of three explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED, EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, and POWER OUTSIDE THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free NoMoreFakeNews emails here or his free OutsideTheRealityMachine emails here.

7 comments on “The myth of collective consciousness”

Submergence in the homogenized whole entails extinction of the individual. This exercise in impossible abstractionism was the theme of the Beatles’ psychologically manipulative song “I am the Walrus”. In fact, most, if not all, of the group’s mature compositions were propaganda tools serving the purposes of mind control directed toward a collectivist end. We have yet to recover from their dystopian influence.

The Carbon atom can group together with other Carbon atoms and form the magnificent diamond, but that is because they are all mostly on the plane(t). Humans are all completely different, so merging together is absurd, and in fact impossible to even imagine. The path of evolving self is just that, as the facility of Free Will was given to all humans, so that they could climb the mountain.